Plans
by Dramamamapwnsall
Summary: The blood, her blood, staining his clothes as he ran. The salty, sticky smell, that smell of life flowing away. That fear that she was going to leave him. That fear that each second ticking away, was a second that brought them closer to death. That crushing knowledge that he was too late/Or, in which Artemis and Wally learn that even the best-laid plans backfire. Miscarriage


**So, this is my first Spitfire, but I love YJ. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Special thanks to my friend, Chris, who edited this.**

**I don't own YJ.**

"Wally, could you check on Artemis? She won't leave her room," M'gann told Wally as soon as he'd exited the zeta tubes.

"Is something wrong?" _He'd_ just wanted to have a nice evening hanging out with his friends.

M'gann shrugged. "I didn't want to pry." She cast a glance at Superboy, who was completely focused on the TV, which was showing static.

With the multiple locks Artemis had installed on her door, Wally had to vibrate his molecules through said door before he was able to gain entry. And ditto for her bathroom door, once he'd affirmed that she wasn't in her main room.

When he found her, she was sitting in the bathtub, her knees drawn up to her chest, her head resting on her knees.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

Artemis had her hair down, a rare occurrence, and it covered her face. Wally didn't like that, usually her eyes would tell him anything he needed to know.

"Babe?" He asked again, cautiously putting a hand on her shoulder.

Wordlessly, she handed him the positive pregnancy test.

While most eighteen year old boys, when confronted with a positive pregnancy test, would fall into a state of shock, then either cut and run, or try to be supportive while watching the life he _could_ have had flash before his eyes before quietly accepting the fact that the aforementioned life would never happen, Wally West scooped up his girlfriend, kissed her, then proceeded to do a lap through Mount Justice, still carrying aforementioned girlfriend.

"Wa-lly?" Artemis asked, confused, right before the contents of her stomach decided to make a reappearance. Instantly, Wally had her head over the toilet, holding her hair back, as she hurled.

As Artemis sat up, she was handed a glass of water and some mouthwash.

She silently sipped some water, then swished the mouthwash around. As she leaned over the sink to spit it out, she felt two warm arms wrap around her waist.

"Why are you not... freaking out about this, I'm freaking out about this."

"Well, it's going to take a lot of planning, but if anyone can pull it off, that would be us, wouldn't you say?" Wally asked, resting his head on Artemis's shoulder.

"Pla- what?"

Wally instantly pulled away, and was rapidly pacing, he was already a blur by the time Artemis turned around. "Well, I figured we were going to keep him, if you don't want to keep him, I will, I don't expect you to do anything you don't want to, unless you don't want to have him at all, in which case I'd have to ask you to reconsider, cause I think that we should keep him."

"Wally, stop," Artemis commanded. The speedster stopped his pacing (He'd already worn a tread in the floor) and faced the archer.

"Yes?"

"You want to keep it?"

"Him," Wally corrected.

"Hi- what?"

"Well, it's a boy." Wally was staring at her, his face a mix of wonderment and worry.

"I just... I don't know, I expected you to not want it- him," Artemis corrected herself.

"Look," Wally said, stepping forward. He took Artemis's hands in his, and placed them on her lower abdomen. "That's my kid in there. Now that I know he exists, I want to... Take care of him, raise him, coach his sports teams, help him with his homework, be his Dad. I realize this isn't the best timing, but I- I just can't ignore this, or pretend you never told me about this."

Artemis nodded, and smiled even as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I want that too, and I... I especially want that with you, Wally."

Wally wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. Already, his life was spinning on a path so very different from what he'd expected, and already, he was completely thrilled.

Later that evening, they were sprawled on the floor of Artemis's room. "Okay, so according to the date of your last period, you're about a month pregnant, you should be due in February... Just after midterms, so you could probably finish your first semester, take care of the baby for the rest of the year and take a few courses online, then I could watch him over the summer while you made up the courses, then we could both take a gap year, so he'll be over a year old when we start our sophomore year, and that's old enough for daycare..."

Artemis's voice overlapped, "We should probably look into apartments in the area, I doubt whoever my roommate was supposed to be would be thrilled with dealing with all the pregnancy stuff, not to mention an infant..."

"I'm going to go ahead and apply for a job, I realize that the League covers all your medical stuff, and will probably take care of him for the first few months at least, but we still will have to buy diapers and baby-clothes and stuff..."

Eventually their conversation strayed from financial to fanciful.

"He's going to have your eyes," Artemis mumbled. She was resting comfortably in Wally's lap, Wally was leaning against the wall, his arms around her, hands resting on her stomach.

"And your hair."

"Your smile."

"And, unfortunately, my freckles. No one in my family can escape the curse."

Artemis smiled. "He's going to play baseball."

"And he's going to be smart. They'll put him in advanced kindergarten. He'll learn Calculus while the others learn their colors."

"He'll speak Vietnamese."

"He'll love all his adoptive Aunts and Uncles, you _know _M'gann's going to insist on being Aunty Megan, with Uncle Conner, Uncle Kal, Aunt Zatanna, Aunt Raquel, and Robin is going to insist on just being Robin to him."

"We'll wear him down."

"He's going to be an awesome runner."

"He's going to have a massive appetite, just like his Daddy." At that comment, Wally gave an offended 'Hey!'.

After a moment of his grumbling, and Artemis telling him to get over it, Wally readjusted his position, so that Artemis's head was just over his heart, and said, "But the most important thing is that he's going to have a Mom and Dad who love him."

The two of them fell asleep on the floor, Wally's arms still wrapped around her.

The next morning, Artemis and Wally were looking at houses for sale in Palo Alto. Artemis was in a rather foul mood, after having woken up with a back-ache, and having thrown up twice that morning, then having to reassure her mother via telephone that she was fine, she'd just gotten tired and fallen asleep, she'd be sure to call next time she intended to stay over.

"No. No. No." Artemis's foul mood had lead to her rejecting every option Wally showed her.

"Look, Arty, babe, it's June. We don't necessarily _need _to have a place in line until around January, 'cause by then you'll be about eight months and we sort of _have _to have some semblance of a nursery, but I'd really feel much better if we got this out of the way now. And besides, if we aren't living together, how am I going to know to get up at two thirty in the morning to get you pickles and ice cream?"

Artemis sighed and nodded, but it took several more hours before she found something she liked. "Three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, it's a condo, and the building has a playground, he can play there and make friends, and there are some good hiking trails around it... It's reasonably priced too, we should check it out."

Wally let out a silent sigh of relief, glad that there was _something _she liked. "Babe, it's going to be awesome."

"I'm not so sure of that."

Wally's eyes snapped open, after all they'd discussed, she couldn't have changed her mind.

"What do you mean?" His son... His little son, she couldn't... Could she?

"I can't exactly be going on missions in my condition... So, while superstition dictates you aren't supposed to tell anyone until after the first trimester, we need to let Batman know."

"Superstition, babe? Really?"

"Plus, I'd like to put off the wrath of my Mother as long as possible."

"Fair enough."

Batman had put a lot of faith in allowing a group of teenagers to live together, with minimal supervision. He'd hoped they'd at least be smart enough to use protection, so he wouldn't have to deal with this exact situation. Needless to say, when Wally and Artemis went to inform him why, exactly, the archer would be unable to participate in missions for the next eight months (And maybe a little longer, because they couldn't leave the baby _alone,_ at least not until he was a few months old, and his grandparents wouldn't have to be up all night with him), Batman was not pleased.

However, he understood the necessity of keeping Artemis off missions, and respected their wishes for secrecy.

Which is how, two months later, Artemis Crock came to be laying on the couch in her mother's apartment, three months pregnant, watching some soap opera, while the rest of the team was on a mission investigating something or other, all of them (Except Wally) under the impression that she was badly ill.

She reflected on the past two months, she and Wally had had several interesting conversations. Several stuck out particularly vividly.

"So, what should we name him?"

Artemis paused to consider the image of the little boy the two of them had thought up together.

"I guess he sort of looks like a Jacob."

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why no?"

"Do we _want_ people to think we named our kid after something out of those vampire books?"

"True..."

"Damien?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Damien Thorn, the antichrist from The Omen?"

"Alright, then."

"How about Mark?"

"Hm... Maybe?"

"Maybe Mark?"

"Maybe Mark."

Another interesting one was whether or not they should get married.

"Well, you know, I don't want my son born a bastard."

"Don't curse around the baby!"

"He's still inside you!"

"Doesn't matter, apparently they can hear in there!"

"Only after they've developed a complex enough nervous system. Besides, it's not swearing, if we aren't married, he will be, by technical definition, a bastard."

"Wally..."

"Okay, okay! Anyways, I'm thinking that we should do it pretty soon, like, right after graduation, so we could just tell our parents you got pregnant afterwards, and the baby was premature."

"That's the coward's way out, West."

"Well, Mrs. West, if you want to unleash the wrath of the entire Justice League, not to mention our parents, on us, be my guest."

"I'm _not_ marrying you, Wally."

"Why not?"

"We're already going through one massive life-change, I really don't think we need another."

"Why not? We aren't going to break up, so why should it stand to reason that we'll get divorced?"

"It's the principle of the thing!"

"Artemis!"

"Wally..."

"At least think about it?"

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Maybe!"

"I'll take it!"

Artemis smiled. She wrapped her arms around her stomach. Mark. Little Mark.

Thinking about it, she might like to marry Wally. Maybe. After all, she did love him. And didn't Mark deserve to have married parents?

Artemis shook her head. She'd always planned for her future to only have one person in it: her. No unnecessary entanglements, she'd told herself. Of course, that was before she'd started dating Wally.

And then, of course, there was their one doctor's appointment.

"Okay, you can come in."

"I don't see why you didn't want me in here for the first part."

"Cause the doctor was looking up my stuff, you don't need to see that!"

"Babe, I got you pregnant. I'm pretty sure I've seen it all."

"It's different. This is more... Clinical... Anyways, we're doing the ultrasound now, right doctor?"

The doctor, working on setting up the machine, nodded.

"Alright, just lie back, and hold on a sec."

Artemis let out a tiny gasp as the ultrasound goop was squeezed onto her stomach, and then...

"There's your baby."

And there it was. Even in the grainy, black and white imaging, Artemis and Wally could still see their child, moving slightly.

The doctor showed them the head, and a hand. "It's a little too soon to tell the gender, I'm sorry," The doctor told them.

Wally held Artemis's hand and said, "That's okay. We already know."

The doctor gave them a weird look, then asked, "Do you have any questions or concerns?"

Artemis sighed. "I've been having a lot of weird cramping, is that unusual?"

"Not really. Your pelvis is expanding, although it usually happens later in pregnancy, it's perfectly normal."

"And... Am I supposed to be getting _that _sick? I mean, I know about morning sickness, but it's not just happening in the morning..."

After Artemis listed a long line of concerns, and the doctor reassured her each time that it was perfectly normal, the two teens left the office.

"Now was that so bad?"

Artemis aimed a punch at his head.

When Wally had mentioned that he was looking for a job, back in June, Batman had insisted that the teens wait a bit before making yet another commitment, sometimes things would work out in a way that would allow them to fully dedicate all their free time (Outside the baby) to the team, and sure enough, two days later, Artemis had learned that Gotham Academy had a fund for pregnant students, so that they can comfortably support their children and still further their education, even if they were graduating in three days. So, no need for a job.

Of course, she thought the timing was a little too perfect, and began to wonder, again, why she was asked to attend Gotham in the first place. However, the thought was pushed out of her head as she got a sudden craving for a lamb kebob and a bowl of strawberry ice-cream, simultaneously.

Artemis heaved herself off the couch, and turned off the TV, where she'd been watching Friends. At three months pregnant, in sweltering August heat, she was rather uncomfortable doing anything, but her rumbling stomach took precedence.

She placed her hand over her tiny baby bump. To most people, it would just look like she'd gained a few pounds, but she knew. The previous night, Wally'd spent over an hour with his head on her lap, his lips to her stomach, whispering everything he wanted for Mark.

Artemis took a short-cut down an alley-way, heading to her favorite Greek place, to get the kebobs, planning to pick up the ice-cream on the way back, when she felt something shoving her shoulders.

Spinning around, she was horrified to see a familiar face leering at her from behind his hockey-mask, wielding a "Hammer", a heavy, metal ball, attached by a chain to a handle. He swung it at her head, and Artemis ducked under, attempting to deliver a kick to her Father's legs. He anticipated this, and stepped back. As Artemis attempted to regain her footing, Sportsmaster used the opportunity to swing the hammer into her shoulder.

Usually, Artemis would be better matched for her father, however, being unarmed, having not trained for the past two months, and being three months pregnant, Artemis had fallen quickly.

As she tried to stand up, his boot slammed into her face. Cursing, with her nose bloody, she fought for her footing again, only to get kicked in the head once more. Dazed, she couldn't stand. Sportsmaster placed his boot on her ankle, and pressed down. They both heard the crack as the bone snapped.

This did not stop the archer from still attempting to stand. But Sportsmaster grabbed her arms, which were flailing for something to use to pull herself up with, took a wrist in each hand, placed his foot on her chest, and pulled. He dropped her once he felt her right arm pop out of its socket.

"You don't think I'm going to let my first Grandchild be the bastard spawn of some goody-two shoes little hero boy, do you?"

She still attempted to wrap her left arm around her stomach, praying there was some way that her child was still alright, when Sportsmaster delivered the first kick to her stomach.

Mark.

Kick.

He was going to play baseball.

Kick.

And speak Vietnamese.

Kick.

He was going to have Wally's eyes.

Kick.

And her hair.

Kick.

And his smile.

Kick.

And his freckles.

Kick.

He was going to be smart.

Kick.

And most of all...

Once Sportsmaster was done, he placed his boot on her throat, and pressed down until her vision went black.

Meanwhile, the team was on a mission in Botswana. They'd had new information on Sportsmaster's location. Although Miss Martian couldn't get a definite lock on his brainwaves, they were going ahead with the mission. On Robin's signal, they simultaneously kicked in the windows of the warehouse they'd been staking out to find it teeming with robots in the process of assembling deadly looking guns.

Guns which they aimed at the teenagers as soon as they entered.

After a quickly improvised plan that resulted in robotic bits strewn about the warehouse, Connor spoke through the mental link, cutting off M'gann, who was profusely apologizing for thinking she'd sensed Sportsmaster.

_'Can you hear that?'_

He led them throughout the warehouse, until they arrived in a tiny back room. In it, a hologram was playing, which showed Sportsmaster.

"Hello, children. I'm sorry I couldn't make it, but I hope the toys I sent to play with you made up for it. Although I was looking forward to catching up with you all, I decided to go visit my darling daughter. Kid Flash..." Even through the hologram, his grey eyes seemed to burn Wally, "I hope you didn't get too attached to it."

Oblivious to the cries of alarm from his team-mates (They assumed Sportsmaster was referring to Artemis), Wally ran all the way to the coast, before realizing there was an ocean, and turning back. It took him about three seconds to do that, an amazing new record for the speedster.

He was not thinking about that at all, however, when he returned and demanded that the team board the bio-ship immediately.

As M'Gann piloted the ship, she couldn't help but pick up on the thoughts radiating off of Wally. She never intentionally meant to pry, and she'd severed the mental link, but the fear coming off of him was palpable. She could see an image of Artemis, and then an image of a small boy, that kept flashing through Wally's head.

Robin was speaking, dividing the team into search groups, but M'Gann and Wally were both too distracted to pay attention. Zatanna placed a comforting hand on Wally's shoulder. "She'll be okay. I know it. She's strong." Then she began the locator spell. M'Gann mentally scanned the town to locate Artemis's brain waves, and the rest of the team waited for them to give the location. Wally would have been sprinting around town already, but he knew that by waiting the few seconds it took his friends, he'd get to her much faster.

As soon as Zatanna gave the street name, Wally was off like a shot.

Artemis was lying unconscious in the alleyway, her face and arms bruised, one arm hanging out of its socket, her foot at an impossible angle with her leg. He was sure there were more bruises hidden under her clothes, but the one thing that horrified him most of all was the blood that was still dripping from her jeans.

Mark.

In two seconds flat, he has her in his arms, through the zeta-tubes, and into Mount Justice's infirmary.

Wally had never prayed before, but after Red Tornado and Black Canary shooed him out of the infirmary, he hit his knees.

_'Please, whoever you are, if you're out there, please don't take them from me. Please. I can't live without them. She's tried so hard to turn her life around, and she's done so much good in this world, and he... He's so little.'_

The rest of the team zeta'd into the living room. M'Gann and Zatanna were both crying, and it was pretty obvious that Raquel, Kal, Robin, and Connor were trying hard not to.

The six of them sat together, Connor holding M'Gann, Zatanna and Raquel held hands, leaning on each other. Kal put a comforting hand on Raquel's shoulder, next to her. Robin was curled up facing slightly away from the others, watching Wally.

Wally was pacing back and forth, whispering under his breathe, 'Please, please.' His eyes were red, and some of Artemis's blood was still on his hands.

After several hours, Black Canary came out. Her face was creased with worry.

Wally was standing in front of her in an instant.

"What is it?"

"She's stable."

The rest of the team let out sighs of relief, and M'Gann even let out a whoop. Only Robin remained still, watching Wally, who was still so tense, still staring, still waiting to hear something more.

"What about-" Wally's voice broke, and the others looked, seeing his still-panicked face.

"Wally... I'm so sorry. She- By the time you got her here, it was too late. She lost the baby."

There was a whoosh of air, and Wally was gone.

The first time Artemis woke up, she was so hysterical that they had to give her a sedative and restrain her, to stop her from hurting herself. The second time, they tried to talk to her and explain what had happened, and Red Tornado made the mistake of loosening her restraints. The medical staff was lucky that the archer didn't have any weapons at her immediate disposal.

The third time she woke up, she was alone. It was very late, and the only noise was the soft beeping of the machines she was hooked up to.

Her hands went to her stomach, and she knew, without a doubt, that she'd lost her baby.

She rolled over onto her side, and pressed one of her hands over her eyes, drawing her knees up to her chest. She let out a long, shuddery sigh.

The next morning, when Black Canary came into the infirmary to check on her, Artemis was still curled up.

"You're awake." Black Canary smiled, checking the archer's vitals.

Artemis didn't move. In the night, she'd attempted to move both her arms, and her legs, and found most of her injuries healed. Her arm twinged if she lifted it too high, and she doubted she'd be able to put much weight on her leg, but it didn't matter. She didn't feel like moving anyways. She would never feel like moving again.

"Your teammates are dying to see you." Black Canary bit her lip, realizing the word choice might not be the best. "You've been out for ten days, you know. Can I tell them they can come in?"

Artemis couldn't imagine it. The few times she'd been injured, the team had come in with get-well balloons, cards, even cookies. But this time, Mark would not be getting well, Mark would never be well, Mark would never _be_.

After the pause, Black Canary said, "I'll just tell them you're not up to it yet. If you need anything, let me know."

Artemis knew exactly what she needed, and it wasn't anything Black Canary could give her. She needed that little life in her stomach, that feeling, every morning, that it was one day closer to seeing his beautiful face, the tiny movements that only a mother could feel. She needed Mark.

And God help her, she needed Wally.

Wally was currently lying on his back atop the Great Mesa. Having been running for ten days straight, he was WAY out of fuel. Not that he minded. Any physical discomfort was nothing compared to what was going on inside his head.

He just couldn't fathom the child he'd imagined, his little boy, the one he and Artemis were going to raise, was... Gone.

He and Artemis had sat up one night, watching a Desperate Housewives marathon (They'd both had mothers who obsessed over the show, and had both inevitably become entangled in the lives of Bree, Gabby, Susan, and Lynette), and eating popcorn, when Artemis had needed to puke. Again.

"I hate this," She moaned as Wally hummed sympathetically, holding her head above the toilet.

She was overcome by another bout of retching, and Wally wasn't sure she could hear him when he whispered, "But it will all be worth it in the end, babe."

None of it was worth it! Wally slammed his fist into the ground. How could any of that excitement be worth this, when he'd never even gotten a chance to hold his son?

And Artemis... God, he knew how scared she'd been, how hesitant she was to even let the tiniest thing about these plans make her smile, he knew she was terrified of the idea of a family, so scared she would screw it up, and now, to have it taken away from them because of who her family was... Would she ever be able to open up again?

He rubbed his face with his hands. He couldn't stop picturing it: The blood, _her_ blood, staining his clothes as he ran. The salty, sticky smell, that smell of life flowing away. That fear, that terrible fear that she was going to leave him. That fear that each second ticking away, was a second that brought Artemis and Mark closer to death. That crushing knowledge that he was too late.

"Hey, Kid." Wally didn't turn at his Uncle's voice. "Do you know how hard it was to find you? You couldn't have made it easy, huh?"

Wally didn't say anything to the speedster sitting next to him.

"I got you twenty Big Macs... With fries... And McFlurry's." Barry tempted, hoping to get a reaction from his former side-kick.

Nothing.

"Look, I know that you're going through a tough time-"

Wally shot up, furious. "Know? You don't know! Aunt Iris has never gotten pregnant! You don't know what it's like, to see that little kid in your mind's eye, and then to know you're never going to hold him, or hug him, or teach him to walk, or hear his first words, or-"

"Wally, Wally! You're right. I _don't_ know. I'm sorry. But look, you starving yourself isn't going to change any of this."

Wally flopped back down, the light of rage dying from his eyes. "I'm not hungry."

"That's a lie."

"_He's _never going to have a Big Mac."

"Wally... Something awful happened. But you can't give up."

"Why not?"

"There's still so much to live for."

"Like what?" The boy wasn't trying to hide his tears. He knew that even if he turned away, his uncle would still know, so why bother?

"Artemis. She's awake."

Wally didn't respond for a long moment.

"Go when you're ready, and let your Mom know you're okay, alright?"

With that, the Flash was gone, leaving behind several over-flowing McDonalds bags.

It was a few hours later when the speedster broke, and finally ate the food. Then, heaving a sigh, he ran back to Mount Justice.

Artemis was curled up on her cot, watching the sinking sun through a window. She hadn't shown any incentive to move, or eat, or talk, or do anything, really, but sleep, since she'd woken up. Although she'd allowed Black Canary to conduct all medical procedures, she would not respond to questions, or acknowledge any visitors.

Wally paused outside the doors. What if... She didn't want to see him? What if she blamed him? She wouldn't be wrong... He should have been there for her. But if she couldn't forgive him...

He entered the room, and saw her, her back towards him. He sat on the edge of the bed, and hesitatingly put his hand on her shoulder. She rolled over, and looked at him. They spent a minute just staring at one another.

"Wally."

"Hey, babe."

Then he was holding her in his arms, her head pressed into his shoulder, his face buried in her hair, both of them sobbing.

And three years later, when Dick just _waltzed_ into their home (Not the one they'd looked at buying, it wasn't as if they'd ever be comfortable there), and is asking Artemis to be part of another mission, even though he _knows_ exactly why they stopped, and had promised to respect that, and it's all Wally can do to not scoop her up and take her somewhere where they can _finallybeatpeacedammit, _she puts her hands on her stomach, and thinks about little Mark, and knows that if her son had made it, she'd want him to live in the best world possible, and other people had children who did make it, and they wanted their kids to live in the best world possible, and knows that she's going to say yes.

**So, here it is. I hope you liked it. My reasoning behind their quitting.**


End file.
